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Recently my wife asked me what a watershed was. While I knew what a watershed is, I had a hard time explaining it, so I decided to do a little investigation into exactly how to simply explain what a watershed is.

A watershed is the overall area of land where water drains or seeps into a pond, stream or lake. Water comes into the watershed from rain and snow, as well as water from storm drains or water runoff. Remember, water always flows downhill and downstream.

The watershed boundaries are determined to be the ridges of land that drains.The size and shape of a watershed varies. It can be as small as an acre or as large as several thousand acres, as in the case of the Muskegon River. Watersheds cross national, state and county lines.

Watersheds are part of larger watersheds. A watershed of a Michigan stream is part of a larger watershed of the Michigan river that the stream flows into. In the strictest sense- where ever you are, you are in a watershed.